they said there are only about 8,000 people in there they can't possibly turn people away, but thats what it looks like are going to happen. they need to get Reliant Stadium, Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park ..Compaq Center ....Hofheinz ....Delmar Stadium ready to take evacuees ... ..ALL OF THEM ....screw sports ......just Git R Done and give all these folks a place to stay
San Antonio and Dallas are still not full... imo, the fire marshal is being too careful....just because the field is full doesnt mean we dont still have room for some more.
Good grief. Houston looks like chump city right now. What an embarrassement to the city. Stepped up to the plate but couldn't deliver on promises. Promised 25,000 but fell short by 17,000. WTF? Well this will probably be a good thing in terms of crowd control
Ya, it's like ppl might be at risk if there ever happens to be a fire in the dome down the line.......but damn, ppl are already at risk right now if they don't get a stable place to rest and proper nourishment
It would be an embarassment if the city didn't open up the Dome at all. I think its more of an embarrasment on the planners and officials who said to bring in the 25k from the Superdome and now all of a sudden the fire marshall says no more. How a 60-70k seat dome can only shelter 5-8k evacuees (and not 20-25k) is beyond me. And where was the fire marshall during the planning stages of this evac? But the city has been welcoming these people in with open arms, opening up shelters, the dome, staging local fundraisers, opening up the schools, etc. And I for one feel proud to be a houstonian and a texan, after seeing the effort this great city and state have put forth to help these victims.
Can't the Astrodome seat 50,000+? How can it be full at 8,000 refugees? If there were going to be fire code problems shouldn't somebody have thought of this before promising to hold 25,000 refugees? This is the biggest execution error I have ever heard of.
It seats 50,000 but it can't act as a comfortable shelter for even half as many. The refugee's won't be sitting in the seats like a sporting event and they may be there for months. The fire marshall was smart to put a stop and avert a possible disaster.
How many refugees can the city of Houston house in Reliant Stadium, Reliant Arena, or the entire Reliant Park complex as a whole??? No event is more important than taking care of these refugees from New Orleans.
they can use lakewood church, they can hold their services elsewhere for a month or so... what else is big, airconditioned and would make a nice shelter in htwon? the george brown convention center?
I think the whole Reliant Park area could theoritcally hold all of the evacuee's and become a tent city, but the reality is that it's just not a viable option.
it seems like the actual place .. i dont know they call it now... used to be called astrohall but i think it's a new building.. where they hold livestock show etc... would be a good place... big area for beds etc... but they probably have events planned there in next few months..
Reliant Center • Exhibit hall totals 706,213 square feet • Exhibit hall can be divided into 11 increments ranging in size from 40,000 to 168,000 square feet • All exhibit space is contiguous and located at street level • More than 72 meeting rooms located on exhibit hall floor and mezzanine level (average size 1,200 square feet) • Two largest meeting rooms are 17,000 and 22,000 square feet • Hospitality suite of 1,400 square feet • Parking for 26,000 vehicles
Reliant Arena. Houston Center for Arts Jones Hall Wortham Theater Center Galveston Island Convention Center at the San Luis Resort Galveston Island Convention Center at the San Luis Resort Houston Humble Civic Center Houston Lone Star Convention & Expo Center Houston Pasadena Convention Center Houston Unique Venues The Crystal Ballroom Houston Astros Conf. Cntr Hobby Center Sam Houston Race Park Verizon Wireless Theater
Also heard on ch 13 that 1) volunteers were turned away 2) no more towels 3) no more solid food (other than fruit) and that when volunteers showed up to the dome with food they were refused because unless it was provided by ARAMARK it WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE BUILDING This was all per interview with a red cross volunteer, so I hope he is wrong about all these I hope they have enough law enforcement for this. Its far from riot level at the moment, but.....
Screw Aramark. One would figure that they would be willing to relax their foodservice contract since its a freakin shelter..
Many people have called Health and Human Services in Houston asking about any required immunizations for both the evacuees and volunteer workers who are arriving in town from the affected areas. The general rule is if you did not have an underlying infection prior to flooding, wading through flood water alone is not deemed as a threat to public health enough to warrant any immunizations. Now if you're out there with open cuts then there's definitely a risk of infection which most likey will be taken care of by administering a teteanus booster. All sorts of waterborne diseases can be cared for at local area hospitals, but let's make that distinction clear as it relates to public health and epidemiology.
Put them in the Toyota Center and forfeit the first month of Rockets games. A championship isn't important this year.
Reliant center should be opened to these people.. at the LEAST. If not Reliant Stadium. The Texans can play at Rice Stadium.. there are more important things to worry about now.
